Brief anatomy review: the latissimus dorsi is a rather large muscle on the back body that originates from spinous processes of T7-12, thoracolumbarfascia, iliac crest, last 4 ribs, and inferior angle of the scapula and inserts into the floor of the bicipital groove on the humerus. In other words, the lats connect from various points on your back to your upper arm. The primary functions of this muscle include shoulder extension (lowering the arm from an over head position or reaching the arm behind you) and internal rotation (turning the arm inward); the lats also assist in adduction (bringing the arms closer to midline) and horizontal abduction (opening your arms out to the side in a "T" position from a forward reaching position), as well as extension and lateral flexion of the lumbar spine. The lats are innervated by the thoracodorsal nerve, which has fibers from the 6th-8th cranial nerve roots. If you read all of that - good job! Either way - here's a picture of your lats.
Step 1: Assess your lats: Can you easily raise your arms over your head? Can you do it sitting (or standing) with your back flat against the wall, palms facing up, elbows straight, and arms shoulder width apart? See below for a demonstration of this simple assessment for lat extensibility.
- Sit with your back flat against the wall
- Hold a wooden dowel, palms facing down, and raise your arms over your head
- Repeat the arm raise with your palms facing up
- Were the two actions different? If so - you likely need more extensibility in your lats. (Or your thoracic spine might be restricted, or you may have difficulty engaging your core sufficiently. If your ribs flare or you arch your back you will need to assess thoracic spine mobility and core strength.)
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| First position; note the pinky flare |
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| 2nd position; note the wider hand position and distance from wall ("tight" lats) |
Step 2: Mobilize/prep your lats: If you find yourself (as I do) with stiffness in your lats you might find it helpful to roll out your lats before, during, and after your workout. For those of you with really tight or stiff lats, you might also choose to use a lacrosse ball along the lateral border of your scapula to help free up that area. I recommend spending 3-5 minutes before you work out mobilizing your lats.
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| When rolling you can move the arm over the head and back down in a forward direction to floss the lats |
Step 3: "Stretch" your lats: After prepping your lats with a roller, "stretch" them for a minute or two. My preferred position is shown below.
Note the following about this stretch:
- Thoracic spine is flexed/rounded
- Elbows are bent
- Shoulders are in external rotation (palms face up with elbows more narrow than hands)
- Photo credit to Dave Tilley of Shift Movement Science; check out his work! It's awesome.
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| The stretch should be felt in the lats along the side body |
Step 4: Use your lats: Now that you have prepared your lats - use them! Below is a nice eccentric (aka lengthening) exercise for the lats. This particular exercise also warms up your serratus anterior and posterior rotator cuff - all of which help stabilize the scapula and humerus during weight bearing activities like handstands. You can do the exercise as shown (credit to Jen Crane, aka Cirque Physio) or seated with your back to the wall and a band around your knuckles or wrists. This should feel difficult, and you should feel it along your side body. The main objective is active elongation of the lats, while engaging the serratus to stabilize the scapulae and the rotator cuff to stabilize the humerus.
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| Starting position; keep elbows more narrow than hands |
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| Ending position |
Note: if you do the exercise with your back to the wall, start with your elbows bent and arms below shoulder height. It will be very hard to raise your arms while keeping your elbows more narrow than your wrists and you will likely find that you can't raise your elbows above shoulder height. That's ok! Keep trying ...
Step 5: Functional application: After assessing, mobilizing, stretching and strengthening - go do the thing! If you were doing this to prep for handstands - go do a handstand. If you were working on your lats to prep you for your acro practice - do that. Bases use lats *a lot* during L-basing to help stabilize the arms and scapulae - particularly during skills such as low foot to hand or hand to hand.
What do stiff lats look like in a handstand? If we lack sufficient extensibility in our lats, we cannot get our arms overhead to create a clean line, so we compensate at our mid-back, lower back, or wrists to find alignment. Examples of insufficient lat extensibility include: banana handstand, excessive rib flare, "closed" shoulders, or painful wrists from too much extension. If you have any of these qualities in your handstand, try the above exercises for 8 weeks to see if it makes a difference in your alignment. If you experience pain in the top or front of your shoulder during these exercises stop and reposition - pain on the top of the shoulder is likely indicative or rotator cuff impingement (in the front - biceps tendinitis). If the pain persists - get yourself checked out by a professional.
In summary: Improving the extensibility of your lats can help you get closer to a straight handstand position. We recommend that you care for your lats by prepping the tissue using a foam roller or lacrosse ball, stretching as shown above, and strengthening in an eccentric direction.
**If you have pain with any of these above positions, please take the time to have yourself checked out by a trained professional. The content of this blog is intended to help improve your acrobatic practice by imparting you with knowledge about how your body works, and should not replace or supersede advice from a medical professional.
We hope to see you soon ... keep training, keep it safe, and enjoy!
Upcoming events with Precision Acrobatics:
Standing Acrobatics Series: July 5th, 12th, 19th, Zaccho Dance Theater, SF
Intermediate Daylong Intensive: Jiggidy July: July 23rd, Zaccho Dance Theater, SF
Refining Acro Series with Liz: August 2nd, 9th, Zaccho Dance Theater, SF
Handstand Workshop with Ariel: August 16th, Zaccho Dance Theater, SF
Strength Training for Acrobats with Ariel: August 23rd, 5 Stones, SF
Hand to Hand Series: September 6th, 13th, 20th, Zaccho Dance Theater, SF
Intermediate Daylong Intensive: Sassy September: September 10th, Zaccho Dance Theater, SF
Handstand Workshop with Ariel: October 4th, Zaccho Dance Theater, SF
Divine Play Festival: October 7th-9th, Portland, OR
Dance Acro Series: November 8th, 15th, 29th, Zaccho Dance Theater, SF
Intermediate Daylong Intensive: Noteworthy November: November 12th, Zaccho Dance Theater, SF
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